Governor to stop illegal gold mining by January 1

South Kalimantan Governor H.M. Sjachriel Darham, has vowed to stop illegal mining of gold and coal in his region by January 1 next year-- the day the regional autonomy law will be put into effect.

"The halting of all illegal mining starting on January 1, 2001 is related to the reallocation of authority on how to manage natural resources from central to local government," the secretary assistant of the province, Armain Janit, told Antara in Banjarmasin yesterday.

Miners operating outside the law will have to buy official permits from local government. The funds collected will be used to develop the region.

To make sure that the illegal miners desist from their activities, the governor has issued decree No 545/2000 and sent it to the local police and military chiefs as well as public prosecutors and the Regional Office of Energy and Natural Resources Department. He asks them to cooperate with the plan and take tough measures against illegal miners.

In his decree, the governor said that the illegal mining has destroyed the rainforest, badly damaged the sustainability of the environment, reduced the income of the region and made foreign investors unsure of the law and the local government's ability to enforce it.

The decree also states that vehicles and cargo boats at all ports are not allowed to load mined materials without officials permission. The decree also urges the police to arrest smugglers who try to circumvent the law.

Copies of the decree have been sent to President Gus Dur, the Minister of Home Affairs, the Director General of Mining, the Inspector General of Mining, the Chairman of South Kalimantan Legislative Assembly, the Customs Office and to associations of miners in South Kalimantan.

Difficult problem

Investigations and data at the Ministry of Mines and Energy indicate that illegal mining of gold and coal in South Kalimantan can not be eradicated because lots of officials are in collusion with local businessmen who operate illegally.

"Thousands of illegal miners get off scot free because they receive full support from local businessmen. Teh businessmen are in turn backed-up by security personnel," the Inspector General of Mines and the Energy Ministry, Muzani Syukur, told the Observer during a press conference on November 23, 2000 here in Jakarta.

He added that the loss in revenue suffered by local as well as central government is tremendous- billions of rupiahs. Illegal miners extract about 30 tons of gold, 45 million tons of coal, and 33 thousand carats of coarse diamond every year.

Another problem is that the outlaw miners do not care about the destruction they are wreaking on the forest, or the pollution of rivers by the mercury and cyanide they use to process gold ore.

There is a trend among illegal miners in South Kalimantan and in North Sulawesi to use cyanide rather than mercury because the cyanide is 40% more efficient. It is also much more poisonous.

Local businessmen are not shy to use their ill-gotten profits to bribe everyone from civil servants to provincial officers and the security personnel who are ordered to arrest them.

In such conditions- where even local government can not control the destruction of the environment by mercury and cyanide, locals are exposed to diseases and health problems by drinking water contaminated by these poisons. (*)